How Many Mutawatir (Mass Transmitted) Ahadith Are There?

Question: Assalamu ‘alaykum.

 How many mutawatir ahadith are there?

Answer:

Wa ‘alaykum assalam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh.

I pray you are well.

The answer to this question is not straightforward due to the historical difference of scholarly opinion on the definition of a mutawatir (Mass Transmitted) hadith. There is also the issue of hadith that are mutawatir in wording and those like this but meaning.

Having said this, Imam Muhammad b. Ja’far al Kattani authored a work in which he documented 310 narrations. He said they were from both categories and that there were other narrations that scholars have differed on, which he did not include. (Kattani, Nazm al Mutanathir Min al Hadith al Muwatatir)

Allah knows best.

[Shaykh] Abdul-Rahim

 

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat began his studies in Arabic Grammar and Morphology in 2005. After graduating with a degree in English and History, he moved to Damascus in 2007, where, for 18 months, he studied with many erudite scholars. In late 2008 he moved to Amman, Jordan, where he continued his studies for the next six years in Sacred Law (fiqh), legal theory (Usul al-fiqh), theology, hadith methodology, hadith commentary, and Logic. He was also given licenses of mastery in the science of Quranic recital. He was able to study an extensive curriculum of Quranic sciences, tafsir, Arabic grammar, and Arabic eloquence.